In his 13D filing, Icahn reports that he bought the shares on the theory that the stock is undervalued given the company's "dominant market position and international growth prospects."

He adds that the company could offer "significant strategic value for a variety of significantly larger companies that are engaging in more direct competition with one another due the evolution of the Internet, mobile and traditional industry."

The filing adds that Icahn is "considering ways for [Netwflix] to maximize shareholder value but have reached no conclusion." He adds that he may seek talks with Netflix in the future.

Over the years, there have been repeated rumors about Amazon.com making an offer for the company, but the stumbling block analysts always have raised is that the many locations that distribute DVDs for Netflix would force Amazon to assess sales taxes on customers in states where they previously had no physical presence. But as Amazon now has consented to assess sales tax in many jurisdictions, that issue is largely moot. Amazon already offers streaming videos for free to Amazon Prime customers, and the company also owns a video distribution business in Europe called LoveFilm; the company also owns the IMDB movie information database.

Microsoft also still seems like a reasonable choice, given their increasing push into the living room and the repositioning of Xbox as more of an entertainment platform.

Other options: Google is likewise expanding its content offerings in Google Play. Or maybe Comcast would want to jump into the video streaming game, giving the company a way to reach consumers not in their cable footprint. Or maybe Apple would want to dig into its piggy bank, and buy Netflix with pocket change.

And I'm sure there might be other potential buyers.

What's not in dispute here is that Carl Icahn has put Netflix in play.